How To: Deal with an Idiotic Twin Brother
by CrappyWriterFailing
Summary: Sawamura Yochu loved baseball, his brother, and baseball. Not that baseball or Ei-chan made that love particularly easy.
1. Prologue - Establish Superiority

_Edited: 25/06/2019: Changed instances of using the nickname "chu" to his given name. Done for consistency across chapters. _

* * *

Sawamura Yochu loved baseball. This was one of the basic truths of his life. School was boring. People other than family and those in the baseball club were faceless to him. Eijun was one of the other facets of his life. Eijun being his twin brother, and one of the most valuable presences in Yochu's life.

They even shared their love of baseball! Though there were a few differences. Eijun wanted one thing, the mound. Yochu loved watching other people play. Loved seeing the different strategies, pitches, plays… It was all so interesting.

When the twins were turning eight, their mother asked what they wanted for their birthday. Eijun asked for a baseball. Yochu asked for an authentic wooden bat.

They both asked to be allowed to play baseball along with that request.

The real difference between their love for baseball was clear. By the time Yochu reached middle school, he knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a professional baseball player. He started to push himself toward that. Eijun was playing to have fun right now. Yochu didn't doubt that his twin would start to be more serious about it eventually though.

Those types of thoughts were far off, for now, they could enjoy being kids. Yochu reminded himself to do that sometimes, no need to get ahead of himself.

"Yo-chan come catch my pitches!" Ei-chan demanded from his brother.

Yochu was watching American baseball with a critical eye. One of his favourite ways to relax and enjoy his time. Ei-chan was something else, coming in and demanding that from him. Clicking his tongue, he turned toward his twin. A mischievous grin coming to his face.

Both of them couldn't have anger problems after all. Yochu made sure to direct his emotions toward more… Amusing avenues.

"I told you not to ask me for that unless you ask properly Ei-chan!~" Yochu sang out.

Eijun looked red enough to blow up. A mix of anger and embarrassment, but Yochu knew what would happen next. Ei-chan loved pitching too much to turn down the offer.

"O-Onii-tan please come catch for me!" Ei-chan spat out.

Yochu immediately snickered and got up, turning the TV off, "I can't ignore begging from my little brother, can I?"

"WE'RE TWINS YOU DEVIL!"


	2. Tire Yourself - Force Him To Grow Up

It was their last year in middle school.

Not that Yochu was feeling particularly nostalgic, but it was nice to note. They would be going to high school soon… What was Ei-chan going to do? Yochu hoped that his brother would have started to take baseball a bit more serious. However, Ei-chan still seemed intent on his idea of following the rest of their middle school team to high school. Ei-chan desperately wanted to be on the same team as them forever.

Yochu's lips down-turned.

He liked them, he did. They were enjoyable to play baseball with. They were friends! It was the fact that they didn't take baseball serious. They thought it was a nice way to spend time together. Which is were the problem lay. Yochu didn't want to separate from Ei-chan, but he wanted to go to a school that had a serious baseball team.

The baseball lover shook the thoughts from his head. There was no use in thinking about such things now.

Practice time.

Getting into his uniform and slipping on his cleats, Yochu made his way to the field. Most of the others were already there. This included their coach.

"Good afternoon Yochu-kun would you mind if I asked you for a bit of advice -"

The coach had a bit of a bad habit. Well, calling it a bit of a bad habit was an understatement. The man was completely incapable of understanding how to train the team. The person in charge of P.E at the middle school paid attention to the basketball team. So they were stuck with the incompetent idiot in front of them. An incompetent idiot that likely got paid extra to be here. Considering how he tried to do well despite it all.

Still, this man was disgusting for putting the pressure of helping the team on someone else. On the shoulders of someone as young as Sawamura Yoschu.

"Mah mah, we talked about this Coach. You remember how to ask for my advice, right?" Yochu demanded, giving the man a twisted smirk.

_Yochu really didn't like him._

"Yochu-sama please help this pathetic Coach keep his job with using your wonderful brain and baseball knowledge!" Coach exclaimed, bowing low at the waist.

_Pathetic._

Yochu held a sign internal and gave the pathetic man what he wanted. "Have us do a skirmish today, we have a game tomorrow, so that would be the better choice. Physical conditioning today would make us too exhausted tomorrow."

"Thank you Yochu-sama!"

Walking away, Yochu noticed that his arm was shaking. Fingers balled into fists. It wasn't that bad but there was a lot of stress involved here. Yochu was the Captain of the team… But in effect, he was more like the Coach than anything else. He went around and pointed out what everyone needed to work on. He was the one that gave their strategies in games. He stayed up sometimes, thinking about his plan for the next game.

When they left for High School it wouldn't be so bad. This responsibility would never fall to him again, he'd make sure of it.

"Yo! What is for practice today!" Ei-chan exclaimed as he came running over, followed by Wakana.

"Skirmish, I can't wait to destroy my little brother's pitches and smack them out of the yard," Yochu replied. Sighing in pleasure and thinking of that moment. Bat in hand, hitting his brothers straight forward pitch right down the middle -

"OI! IDIOT TWIN, YOU'RE NOT HITTING SHIT!" Ei-chan exclaimed, slapping Yochu upside the head.

Yochu put a finger to his chin in thought, "Ei-chan is calling me the idiot twin… What an idiot…."

Ei-chan was pretty naive though, thinking Yochu wouldn't hit his pitches. Ei-chan was far too straight forward without a catcher to guide where to put the pitch. He'll just drive it straight down the middle otherwise. The other catcher on the team was… While, to put it lightly, he sucked. Could barely even catch a normal fastball. If Ei-chan ever got serious and threw with all his heart in the pitch, the man wouldn't be able to catch that moving fastball.

Yochu had tried to tell Ei-chan to practice ball control. If he could throw that fastball into the mitt more often… Instead, Yochu had to move his mitt to the ball. The unpredictability of it would get them in trouble, but at this level it was fun.

Right now, the two of them have two signs. One for a normal fastball. The other was what Ei-chan called, '_The extra special heart on the line pitch_'.

Yochu had such an idiot for a brother.

Either of those were hittable by Yochu though. Even if Ei-chan did surprise him and use his, '_extra special heart on the line pitch_', Yochu would hit it. He'd seen it too often coming to his mitt. That was a pitch that was easy for him to hit.

"Either way, do your stretches Ei-chan. You remember what happens if you don't do at least that, don't you?" Yochu reminded, giving his brother a bright smile.

Ei-chan shivered. Good, he should be scared.

The last thing that Yochu wanted was his brother losing the flexibility that made him a natural pitcher. Even if his brother wouldn't take the time to learn serious pitches right now.

So Yochu threatened to tell mum that Wakana was Eijun's girlfriend if Ei-chan didn't do stretches.

Wakana wasn't his girlfriend of course.

That wouldn't change their mothers over the top reaction.

Ei-chan then ran off and started to do his warm up. Yochu decided to follow suit, at a more sated pace. It felt good, running these laps. There was tension in his muscles that he was running out. His shaking from earlier stopped as he got rid of the built up aggravation and stress. Yochu thought to himself that he should run more often if it works off that much aggravation.

The coach called them all together fifteen minutes later.

"Team One lead by Sawamura Eijun, Team Two lead by Sawamura Yochu-sama," He declared.

Everyone had learned early on when skirmishing with one another that they couldn't have both brothers one the same team. It was too unbalanced. The team with Yochu always won for the most part, but it was a slaughter if the two were together.

They picked the other members of their team and started to get to work.

Yochu looked at the catcher's gear with resignation before putting it on and walking over to the home plate.

He crouched.

Yochu looked toward their chosen pitcher. The only pitcher, other than Ei-chan on the team. The Catcher held up his mitt and signed for a fastball right down the middle. Not that it mattered. Yochu watched as the ball came toward an area over his head. It was caught quickly enough.

_This pitcher was boring._

He could barely pitch a strike. At least Eijun could do that much.

On top of that, Yochu had to admit.

_Catching is boring._

He knew that as he was now, for this team, catching was the best position for him. Yochu could do the most for his team crouched behind the plate giving game calls and strategies and trying to help the pitcher strike out batters. That didn't change what he yearned for.

What he wanted was that Outfield. Running. Throwing long back to home plate. Jumping up to stop that rare home run.

Yocho let out a sigh as he looked to left field, but focused back on the game. He asked for the next pitch. The pitcher lifted his leg, arms overhead, and threw the ball with ferocious speed.

Right into the dirt in front of the mound.

The pitcher looked at it in shock as the batter took off running.

Clicking his teeth, Yocho ran over to the ball and grabbed it, twisting his body to throw toward first. If he wasn't in catchers gear that throw would have been stronger. His movement would have been faster. He felt almost disappointed in the speed that he acted. Not that it mattered of course. It was Wakana at-bat. She was smarter than there average batter. She realized to run after all. The only problem was her running speed was the slowest.

1 Out.

_This was going to be a long game, wasn't it?_

…

…

…

In the end, the score was 6:1 with Yochu's team getting the win.

Ei-chan was pouting.

"It'll be okay Ei-chan, I'm your big brother. If anyone should be able to destroy your pitches, it's me." Yochu comforted mockingly, giving his brother a pat on the head.

Eijun swatted the hand away and glared at his brother, his cheeks puffing out. Yochu started to snicker, but inwardly he melted, my little brother is so adorable.

They went home after that, Ei-chan pouting the whole way.

Their mom had already started to cook dinner by the time they got there. Yochu was glad for that because he was feeling hungry - famished even. Ei-chan went to go take a shower. Yochu waited for the bathroom to open up. While doing so, he went out to the backyard and grabbed his bat. Taking up a stance, he swung his bat. Practising in both sides.

Batting was calming too, like running. Yochu was also good at it. He was the best batter on their team by far, most of their runs came from his efforts. There were three other batters that were decent at hitting in front of him in the lineup. A lineup that Yochu had created. If they were to get on base, it was then Yochu's job to bring them home. He usually at least hit the ball and advanced them forward.

Then came the dangerous part.

Ei-chan was up to bat after Yochu. It was purposeful. Yochu was a fast runner, and Ei-chan could bunt anything.

The only difficulty was getting Ei-chan to actually bunt the ball.

Yochu swung again, taking a deep breath and releasing more tension.

The smarter twin was starting to wonder if maybe he went a bit too hard on his brother today. It was just whenever he was up against Ei-chan as a batter he couldn't help himself. Ei-chan had the same eyes on the mound that Mei did. That brat Mei. Yochu could feel his eye twitching slightly. His mouth starting to spread into what he knew to be a sickening smirk.

He swung again and put thoughts of that brat to the side.

"Yo-chan! Ei-chan is out of the shower!" His mother called.

Putting his bat down, Yochu walked into the house, ducking behind the hand that showed up out of nowhere.

"Take your punishment for being uppity again you brat!" Eitoku-jiji proclaimed, going to slap Yochu again. All smacks were dodged swiftly as Yochu made his way to the bathroom.

Typical of his Gramps.

He always did that if he could see Yochu was in a bad mood. Yochu really did have a loving family.

…

…

…

In the final months of his middle school baseball career, Yochu had several people offer him positions in their school for a scholarship. The notable ones being Inashiro Industrial, and Yakushi High School. The twin told the schools that he'd think about all his options and get back to them. What he wanted was Ei-chan to pick a good school that Yochu could follow him too. Regardless of that, there was no way Yochu would be going to Inashiro.

_He wanted to beat that blonde brat, not team up with him._

They were in the third round of games in the middle school competition, and already Yochu was feeling pretty tired.

He knew that Ei-chan was much the same.

Yochu didn't doubt that the rest of the team was tired but… It was different. Yochu spent these last few weeks barely getting sleep, coming up with strategy upon strategy against these teams. Each game they scraped by with the necessary points. Ei-chan was forced to pitch entire games because of the fact their team lacked any other proper pitcher. It was a mess.

"Are you worried about the game tomorrow?" Ei-chan suddenly asked, closing the screen door and stepping out to the backyard.

Yochu had been swinging away with his bat. He knew he shouldn't, but he was stressed. Still, he would need the energy for tomorrows game -

"Ei-chan are you worried about your Onii-tan and his mindset? What an adorable little brother I have!" Yochu claimed, sending a bright smile toward his brother.

"You're not sleeping." Ei-chan spat out. Angry at his twin's jib, but determined to actually make sure his brother was okay.

Yochu outwardly snickered. Inwardly, he was giving a genuine smile to his brother, he was starting to grow up a lot more lately.

"Don't worry too much Ei-chan, I just have a lot of adrenaline to work off. Don't forget about that third pitch we've been working on.~"

"Shut up! You're always telling me not to do things like overwork my shoulder." Ei-chan spat out, Yochu thought for a few seconds that he'd never seen him look so pissed. "Yet you're doing this to yourself, hypocrite."

Ei-chan stormed back into the house. The entire time Yochu hadn't so much as flinched. Once Eijun was safely in the house, Yochu slouched and ran a hand through his hair.

"You really are growing up Ei-chan, but you're not quite there, huh?" Yochu asked himself in a whisper.

…

…

…

So long as they kept up this momentum, this would be their game.

Yochu watched with a critical eye as their first batters got ready. It was the seventh inning and they were leading by two runs. Not amazing, but it was a healthy lead that they had the chance to widen even farther here. If even one of their guys got on a base, there was a good chance.

"Wakana-san!" Yochu called over, seeing her warming up her swinging.

It was Yochu's favourite move, sending their female out as the first batter. The pitcher liked to underestimate her. The truth was, she was decent at batting. Enough to get it to the outfield if she could predict the pitcher well enough. Which was good, because if it didn't go far, she wasn't a good enough runner to get the base.

She walked over and looked at the more mature twin with an expectant look.

"The pitcher has been getting more tired and his pitches have been getting lower on the right ever since then. Smash it far." Yocho instructed.

Wakana gave a determined nod.

Good, if she got on base then he'd get his chance at bat. Yochu pulled his batting gloves out from his back pocket and pulled them on. Flexing his fingers a few times to make sure they were properly adjusted.

…

…

…

Takashima Rei was looking for something special.

Her primary aim was finding a pitcher. Come next year they were going to have a problem. One of their strongest pitchers was leaving, and the other was a relief pitcher. Seido needed at least two pitcher first years to come in, and they needed skill. Especially if they wanted to make it to Kōshien, they needed to take the pressure off their current pitchers.

This school, Akagi Junior High, was the underdog. No one had even expected them to make it past their first game.

Rei was starting to understand why by the time the first inning was done.

It reminded her somewhat of recruiting Takigawa Chris Yuu and Miyuki Kazuya. That catcher was suppressing the other team well. They were too scared to attempt stealing because of how blatantly shut down they were after the first time they tried it. On top of that, the catcher seemed like he was egging on the batter sometimes. Brief, short words that made the batter tense up.

All which couldn't have been done if it wasn't for the pitcher in front of him.

_Oh yes_, the catcher was amazing, _but the pitcher wasn't something to laugh at either_.

He threw decent strikes, his fastballs were actually an above average speed for middle school. The most surprising thing was the moving fastball she saw a few times. Every once in a while, there was even a change-up? It was hard to tell, too subtle, unpracticed, but it seemed like the catcher was using those three pitches to the best of their ability.

They were good at shutting down the batting line up.

On closer look, where those two brothers? They looked very similar, twins, perhaps? Might explain their amazing chemistry as a battery.

On Akagi's bats, nothing particularly amazing shot out at her.

Until their first hitter, the start of the seventh inning hit a roller to outfield out of nowhere. Rei blinked, somewhat surprised, but then thought back. Didn't the catcher pull the player aside for a second? Did he tell her what sort of pitch to expect?

_My my_... Rei thought to herself, a smirk coming to her lips.

The other two batters fouled a few but got struck out. The other team's pitcher wasn't actually that bad. But the pitches were cookie cutter strikes, nothing particularly special about them.

The catcher went up to bat next.

Rei blinked again, wondering how often this boy was going to surprise her, _was that a wooden bat_?

Not only that, but he was wearing a two-sided batting helmet. They weren't uncommon, some preferred them… But Rei suspected that the boy was a switch hitter. His pitching brother was a southpaw, it wouldn't be overly surprising.

It was the first pitch.

_**Smash**_

A low flier into right-field. Not an easy thing to hit and the right-fielder wasn't paying much attention either. Not surprising, few in middle school hit the ball to right field, left-field was more common even in professional scenes.

The first batter who had been on first the whole time had started running as soon as the pitch was thrown.

_The trust she had shown in the catcher, she'd known he'd hit it._

That trust allowed the catcher to get to second. If she hadn't started to run early, he would have lapped her.

The other brother stepped up to bat next. Rei leaned forward, having come to expect surprises from these brothers. It would seem, the surprise this time would be seeing the lesser skilled batter strike out swinging.

Before the brother stepped back into the box he was interrupted.

She was close enough to the players that she could hear the calls they were making so long as they were loud enough. There weren't many words but she still heard them loud and clear.

"Ei-chan, don't let your Onii-tan down now!~"

Rei felt exasperated, that was clearly a threat.

Which was made all the more clear when the brother at bat flinched violently before stepping back into the batter's box.

The pitch was sent.

The pitching brother closed his stance as the ball left the opponent's hand. The bunting stance shift was quick and skilful. The trajectory of the ball and the amazing slow role of it was... Honestly, there were people in bro league who could take lessons from that kid's bunting.

Rei whistled lowly as the ball slowly rolled past the pitcher slightly to the left of the first baseman. The pitcher was actually too shocked to immediately respond.

The girl made it home, and by some miracle, the other team fumbled and didn't get the out on the other brother either. Instead, they had elected to try and get rid of the catcher who had already made it to third. An amateur's mistake - They'd probably get scolded by their coach after the game.

_What a minute_, Rei thought to herself. The brother on third was taking a huge lead off. The pitcher didn't look for a pick-off.

_No way_.

The catcher took off to home the second the pitcher started his motion. The boy was fast for his age. He'd be even faster if after the conditioning at Seido. The catcher slide toward home plate. The ball was in the catcher's mitt, but as the catcher went to tag him out, the boy twisted his body.

Rei smirked.

Looked like she had the right feeling about this Akagi Junior High.


	3. Realize - How Powerless You Are to Him

Yochu felt exhausted by the time the game was done. It was a victory for Akagi and their next match was in a few days. Sighing, Yochu almost wished they lost here because that was another two days he was going to spend looking over the other school's logs and games. Doing the coach's job of looking for strategies and weaknesses.

"I can't believe we lost to a team like that, with a girl of all things." One of the enemies grumbled to themselves, "Why are they even bothering? Their school isn't even going to be around next year."

Ei-chan darkened and swung around to look at the one who said it. Yochu gave a deeper sigh, but it ended in a chuckle. The pitcher was too much like their Grandfather. Looked like he was going to need to step in and destroy the little peasant before his brother took the physical route.

Besides…

_Wakana was his friend too._

"Mah mah, it's okay to be embarrassed, losing to the better sportsman, or should I say, sportswoman. Some people are born with good looks and skill! It's unfortunate that you aren't one of those people. You won't be getting by on your charm, I'll tell you that much." Yochu sang out, stepping forward, grinning as he got right in the enemies face. He looked him straight in the eye and saw exactly what he was, weak.

"Just who do you think you are?" He spat back, but he shrunk back.

"I'm the Captain of the Akagi Junior Baseball team. I'd ask who you are, but I already know. You're a pathetic child unwilling to admit that you got beaten by a female." Yochu continued. His grin turning into a cheerful smile, "It's okay, Wakana-chan is familiar with your type. She knows you aren't worthy of her time."

With that, Yochu turned away, chuckling, not at anything in particular, but because he knew it would piss the guy behind him off even more.

They lined up and bowed.

Akagi having another victory under their belt, not just their win in baseball.

After the team made plans to discuss battle plans tomorrow. Other than that, Yochu suggested that they all get a good nights sleep.

The fight wasn't over yet.

Yochu and Eijun started their way back home. They usually walked home to get last minute workouts in and get rid of any extra adrenaline. Yochu was regretting it now because he was feeling too tired.

There was no way he could keep it up for much longer.

If it wasn't for the fact that his brother wanted so badly to bring Akagi Junior's name to nationals one last time, Yochu would give up. Give up is a strong term, but sit a few games out? Definitely. His play had gotten slower because of how tired he was too. He'd given up a run because of it. Ei-chan stayed quiet as they walked home. The pitcher having learned that Yochu liked to have this time to think of what they needed to improve upon.

They opened the door to the house and their mother immediately was at the door.

She looked at them with a nervous smile, "Ei-chan, Yo-chan, someone from Tokyo is in the other room for you."

_Eh? Another recruiter? But for Ei-chan too?_

Yochu tilted his head in thought but walked forward. The woman was at the opposite end of the table, the entire Sawamura Family electing to smash themselves on the other side. Yochu chuckled lightly at their antics. Finding it funny, he still decided to be on the corner of the table instead. He'd rather not get looped into their pace.

The woman took her suit jacket off, a plain white blouse underneath.

Yochu looked at his brother.

_Oh?_ Yochu thought to himself a smirk with a smirk. Ei-chan stared for a second at her chest, if Yochu wasn't mistaken, _growing up in ways other than baseball, Ei-chan _?

The woman either didn't notice or didn't care. Her carefully painted nails slide across the table, sliding a business card into the middle. Her lips twitched to the side, "Nice to meet you. I'm the general manager for Seidou High School's baseball club. Takashima Rei."

_Seidou?_ Yochu thought to himself, _didn't Miyuki Kazuya go there?_ _It used to be pretty well known for making it to finals, if not winning. Plus they had a lot of graduating members that went on to be pro players._

"Eh? What's that?" Ei-chan asked.

His family immediately started to scold Ei-chan. Yochu watched on, erupting into a peal of laughter as his little brother got scolded. Gramps even slapped him.

"Oh my god, thanks Ei-chan! I needed a good laugh!" Yochu exclaimed, still chuckling once in a while.

Gramps shook his head in disbelief before looking toward Rei, "I can understand Yochu. Why did you want to see this idiotic one?"

"I was watching their match today and was amazed. On Sawamura Eijun's end, I was more than impressed with his bunting ability, and his pitching has potential. As for Sawamura Yochu, his game calling is amazing, and his batting power was on par with what we'd expect from a second year at our school."

Yochu twitched slightly.

_Second year?_

_It was an off day!_

"He was amazing at drawing the true potential out of Sawamura Eijun. Three pitch types aren't bad for middle school, but with the lack of control to work around, that can't be easy. Plus that steal to home was splendid. There was a lot of impressive things to see that game."

The Sawamura Family sans Yochu turned toward Ei-chan with darkness in their eyes.

"You better join."

"She is the only recruiter who will take your idiocy."

"Don't lose this opportunity."

Ei-chan backed up against the wall, slightly scared. He responded to their crazed looks, "Hey... No... Hang on... Going to Tokyo to play baseball? I don't even want to play at that kind of strict place! I want to continue playing with my friends here!"

This might be his only chance.

"Ignore my little brother," Yochu broke in, sweet smile on his face, "We'll both go and check out the school and take a look around. I'm happy for this opportunity Takashima-san."

Yochu bowed his head toward her.

"Oh please, none of that, please just call me Rei-chan!~" She responded, smiling at the Catcher.

"Don't go making choices like that for me, IDIOT BROTHER!" Ei-chan screamed, a flying kick coming toward Yochu's face. The calm twin moved slightly out of the way, Ei-chan slide into the kitchen with the force of his attempted attack.

_Just __want to go to Nationals with your team here… Impossible._ Yochu thought to himself.

They were too tired.

…

…

…

They won their next match by a close margin, but Yochu could tell that they weren't going to make it to semi-finals. He was too tired, and their next opponent wasn't like the others they had faced. On top of that, Ei-chan… His pitch was going wild.

"Time out!" Yochu called, before walking over to Ei-chan.

Ei-chan was looking down at his shaking pitching arm. Yochu had feared this, they had pushed his brother too far.

"Ei-chan, get subbed out and ice your shoulder. You can't pitch anymore." Yochu demanded, before turning toward their couch and informing the man of the situation.

"Yo-chan I can keep pitching I swear - "

"Shut up Ei-chan, even if you use that cute face and call me Onii-tan I won't give in this time!" Yochu exclaimed, maybe giving a bit too much away.

The other pitcher was called in, but it was like Yochu feared. The second Ei-chan couldn't play, they were doomed. Even as Yochu pushed his own shaking body past its limits to try and achieve Ei-chan achieve his dream, it wasn't working. They were slowly declining in the score. Even though Yochu went to bat and brought two of them home by blasting it over the fence, it wasn't enough.

Yochu let a run go. They stole a base because he couldn't drive the ball fast enough back to second.

The game was over.

7:6 the other team in the lead.

Ei-chan was crying.

They went home that night somberly. Yochu was limping, although he tried his best to hide it. Everywhere hurt. His body was thumping with the beat of his heart, if it wasn't for the fact he was so careful with his hydration, he probably would have past out. Dinner was just as quiet, abnormal in the Sawamura household. Gramps didn't even try to slap them.

Yochu went to bed and laid a hand over his eyes, "Sorry Ei-chan… I tried my best."

It was hard to sleep, his body hurt so much, but somehow he managed. It was shaken with dreams of his brother accusing him of not trying hard enough.

…

…

…

They were making their way to the train station. It had been about a week since their loss. Yochu still felt somewhat stiff in the joints, some muscles felt sore sometimes, but he was back to practice. Mostly just light jogging and some batting. Ei-chan wouldn't pitch to him though. Things were a bit tense. Yochu was kinda sick of it.

"That recruiter, Rei-chan, you were looking at her chest weren't you?" Yochu suddenly asked with a wicked grin, "So indecent little brother. I'll only keep it from Wakana if you beg me using your cute voice and calling me Onii-tan~!"

Ei-chan violently flinched, "Y-YOU NOTICED THAT?!"

Yochu felt his grin spread.

Eijun realized his mistake a second later, "I-I MEAN I DIDN'T DO SUCH A THING!"

"Don't be so embarrassed little brother, it's normal! I'm still gonna tell Wakana-chan if you don't do the thing though!"

Ei-chan had a flicker of a thought, "If it's natural that means that Yo-chan was looking too!"

_Adorable, Ei-chan was so adorable thinking he could rise to the occasion,_ Yochu thought to himself, "Nope! Your big brother is gay Ei-chan, please accept me!"

Eijun face-vaulted in surprise, "WHO RANDOMLY BRINGS THAT UP?!"

"Just do the voice if you don't want me to tell Wakana Ei-chan!"

They were almost to their train's dock. The station was pretty busy, people bustling around and shooting them weird looks. Both twins ignored that, very used to getting looks from people. They were both twins, and Ei-chan couldn't help but be loud. He gathered attention everywhere he went, even though he didn't mean too.

"Onii-tan please forgive me." Ei-chan spat out, turning red with anger.

_Adorable_

"I see you are lively today, despite your recent loss." Rei-chan broke in, leaning against a pillar. She had elected to take the train with them there and give them a full tour of the place. Yochu thought to himself that it was a sign that she really wanted them to come to Seidou. She was putting in a lot of effort. Having put quite a bit of thought into it, Yochu made sure to sit next to the recruiter. Ei-chan was taking in the view outside the window.

"Rei-chan, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

She looked toward him with a small smile, "Go ahead, that's why we're here today."

"To put it most simply, I'm only coming here if my twin does too. If he agrees, I have no intention of being a catcher here. I want to play Left Field, is that okay?"

Rei looked at the boy, slacking with shock, "You have a prodigal talent as a Catcher. After your last games, there have been articles about how you dragged your team through qualifiers with your game calling alone. People are comparing you to the likes of rising talent like Miyuki Kazuya. Why would you want to play a different position?"

"I find catching boring."

Rei blinked in shock again, how often were these boys going to shock her, "Come again?"

"Catching is boring to me," Yochu admitted, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Reminding her that, yes, those two _were _twins and had some similar behaviours, "I only play Catcher because Akagi needed me to. No one else would be able to catch my little brothers pitches. I didn't want his growth to be restrained like that."

_But that's such a Catcher thing to say about a pitcher,_ Rei-chan mused to herself.

Humming in thought, Rei pulled one of her legs and folded it delicately over the other. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of the players they took on at Seidou were all-rounders after all. Even in a conversation or two, it was clear that at heart, Yochu was a Catcher. Even if he didn't enjoy it, he was amazing at it. On the other side, even taking only his batting into consideration he could qualify for Seidou, he doesn't need to Catch. He could spread his wings and try out-field. They had Miyuki, and Chris as well, if he ever comes back, they didn't _need _another amazing Catcher. It was just nice to _have _one.

"Suppose you can play as an Out-Fielder if you want, but if needed, fill in as a Catcher." Rei-chan offered.

Yochu perked up.

He might have to put a few good words in with his brother to make this school seem better. He was starting to like the idea of Seidou more and more. They got off the train and started their walk. It was maybe five minutes of walking before they came across the place. Even on first glance, you could tell it had huge fields. The school building itself was pretty large, but it was clear that they put a lot of money into their baseball team at this school.

Rei took them on a quick slip through the school, giving them the general layout. After which they visited the dorms.

"Half of our student's house here instead of at home. The commute would be too expensive. A lot of people come here to study baseball. There are some people who think that going to an away school to study something like baseball is stupid. I disagree with that opinion. It gives the kids even more drive." Rei-chan proclaimed, looking proud.

_She __really __liked this team,_ Yochu realized. _Rei-chan is the type that __legitimately __loves her job._

Ei-chan was looking around enthusiastically. Sometimes he'd make a disparaging comment, but he wasn't fooling anyone. He looked too amazed by the school to hide.

They started to walk out to the practice field. The team was out there practising. Yochu took a quick glance around at the member count. That was… competitive. In Japanese schools it was suggested to have 20 players, 25 being the absolute max you could have on your team. Something that was mirrored from American Pro League. The actual number of people on the field was around 100. That was a lot of competition to rise against.

**_Ba-Thump_**

Yochu rose a hand to his chest in slight surprise. His heartbeat quickened in excitement. This was not what he wanted. Yet, he knew how competitive he was...

_Fuck he __really __liked it here, didn't he?_

_That settled it, he'd have to convince his little brother somehow!_ Yochu promised to himself. He'd been working hard to help his brother achieve his dreams. He'd driven himself into the ground playing a position he didn't even like. Time for the little brother to take care of his Onii-tan every once in a while.

"Hey, Pitcher! What's with that horrible pitch?! Are you mocking me or something?"

Yochu spun around to look at the area the horrible screeching was coming from. Ei-chan did the same.

"If you throw like this, I can't practice! This worn out, you're not even going to make it sitting on the bench like that! At least have some use by letting me practice on a half decent pitch!"

The man yelling was a tubby being. He was pointing his bat toward the clearly exhausted pitcher. Yochu could feel his eye twitching, a grin spreading to his lips. Treating a pitcher like that… They have one of the most dangerous positions in the game. Overworking a pitcher could harm their shoulder and future!

"You're going to go to pros with that kind of body?! I can't believe it! You should give up before you start!" Ei-chan declared.

Yochu, for the first time in a while, didn't step in.

Didn't _want _to step in.

Dumbass shouldn't be treating a pitcher that way, especially one that bothered to give live pitches for a practising batter. Instead, Yochu allowed himself to snicker at his brothers more than true words. The man might be able to hit a ball, but could he even run to a base afterwards? Probably one of those types that rely on home runs because they are too out of shape to run. In America that type of playing was prevalent.

"I mean look at that belly! No matter how I look at it, he has to be over 40, probably a grandfather already!"

"Ahahahaha!~ Tell him Ei-chan!" Yochu exclaimed, laughing so hard he was holding his stomach.

_God this is hilarious, not only is that guy getting put in his place but Ei-chan is doing it in such a good way. He learned from his older brother well! _Yochu thought to himself, chuckles not dying down in the least.

"Sawamura-kun apologize!" Rei-chan snapped.

_Oh_

_My_

_God_

_She didn't know Ei-chan at all!_

Yochu fell over with the force of his laugh, It shook his whole body. God, he needed a laugh like this. If there was an edge of hysteria in the laugh, it was excusable. Yochu continued to laugh, even as the walrus started to blunder his way over to Ei-chan. Especially when he claimed that his belly was _cute _of all things.

"Oh my god, I can't breath!" Yochu gasped out between howls of laughter.

"Sawamura, control your brother!" Rei-chan snapped, looking down at him, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Her face flush with annoyance.

"AHHAHAHAHAHAA!" Yochu laughed.

_Control Ei-chan? God was the woman trying to kill him?! Any more laughter and he might burst!_

"You can't play baseball all on your own! Has this so-called famous school lost sight of the importance of teammates?!" Ei-chan spat out, glaring at the man in front of him, but talking clearly to Rei-chan.

Yochu let his laughter die down, but he still maintained the wide grin and a few chuckles. The only thing bothering him was that he _wanted _Ei-chan to come to this school. If this one whale got in the way of that, he'd be very disappointed.

"Sorry Azuma-kun, this boy and his brother are little country bumkins. He, most of all, doesn't know what he's saying." Rei-chan proclaimed, pointing toward Ei-chan. Clearly, she had something in mind here, "This is a good chance then, won't you show him your batting power? Baseball rivalries should be answered on the field. He's a pitcher, so you wouldn't let him strike you out, right?"

"I take no issue with it." Azuma grit out, the vein in his temple protruding out, "But I'm not satisfied with one. The other one laughed at me."

"I see," Rei-chan murmured. Pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she thought over options, "How about this: we'll go over to the batting machines. First one to miss a pitch loses, simple enough?"

_Unfair,_ Yochu thought to himself immediately after hearing his proclaimed challenge. He was about to claim so, but -

"Of course he'll take the challenge! My Onii-tan would never lose to a guy like you!"

"Look at my adorable little brother, how could I never say no after his faith in me!" Yochu proclaimed, forgetting about his worries.

_Shit, I got dragged into Ei-chan and his pace again._ Yochu thought to himself, weeping internally at his strong desire to listen to Ei-chan when he used _that _name. Did he actually train himself to not refuse a request over the years? _Shit, that __was meant __to be the other way around!_

"Heh, this seems interesting. Rei-chan, will you let me catch that guy's pitches?"

Yochu turned toward the speaker. He was good looking, had a cocky air about him. There was a wide grin on his face as he tossed a baseball into the air a few times. His hair was definitely lighter than typical Japanese, but the look suited him. He probably had some Caucasian in his blood.

"Oi Miyuki! Don't go butting in, you damned first-year brat!"

"But Azuma you've been such a braggart lately, you need to be brought down a rung or two." Miyuki Kazuya, apparently, said as he got up and brushed the dirt off his pants. His classmates and teammates were yelling at him to take it back and apologize. He ignored it, as well as Azuma's continuing threats.

"Yo-chan will catch for me!"

At Ei-chan and his proclamation, Miyuki turned a raised eyebrow toward Yochu.

_This is a key moment for Ei-chan. Getting him to play with a catcher that actually likes the position will make him take it a bit more seriously.__Plus, someone of Miyuki Kazuya's calibre, pitching to a guy like that would be good for him… _Yochu mused to himself, "Nope, I hate catching!"

The exclamation was cheerful, and that set Ei-chan into confusion.

"That's what you've always played though…" Ei-chan trailed off.

"I hate it! It's boring! I only ever played it because none of the other guys could catch your pitches when you were serious. Plus, you guys were idiots that needed someone to help control the field~" Yochu admitted, grinning toward his brother.

"So this whole time you were playing something you hated?!"

"Yep! The things I do for my precious little brother. Now go get changed and strike this guy out already." Yochu shooed his brother off.

One of the other players took his brother off to the locker room. Yochu declined, saying all he needed for his competition was a wooden bat. Miyuki Kazuya went to suit up, Rei-chan walking over to him a moment later. Yochu followed as well, kind of curious about him, plus, Miyuki could use a heads up on his brother's skills.

"Miyuki-kun, this pitcher has a lot of skill for a middle schooler. Will you bring it out properly, as his brother does?" Rei-chan asked.

"Rei-chan when you put it that way I want to blush." Yochu gushed out, teasing edging his voice.

"That interested in him Rei-chan? The kid must be something special." Miyuki hummed out, almost thoughtfully. Behind those glasses, his eyes looked almost excited, "High praise coming from you."

Yochu looked at Miyuki for a beat. It wasn't just excitement, there was a degree of calculation in that gaze that Yochu could recognize. He saw it in the mirror often enough, after all. That's the kind of person Ei-chan needed.

"I'm Sawamura Yochu, just Yochu as not to confuse me with my brother, please." Yochu introduced himself, looking right into the eyes, through the glass, of his fellow catcher.

"Miyuki Kazuya." The Catcher responded, that heavy, calculating gaze turning its full power onto the elder brother.

_If he was going to catch for Ei-chan it would be better to warn him about a few things. _Yochu thought to himself, before raising a hand. His fingers scrunched up lightly, the fingertips barely indenting, "That's the sign for his changeup. It's subtle, not well practised. Careful with it."

Yochu formed a full first, "Regular fastball, decently straight. Should make it to wherever you place your mitt."

Then, Yochu took that first and stuffed it into his other hand, mimicking hitting the glove with his first, "Moving fastball. He doesn't have control over it. Once he pitches he has no idea where it will end up. Makes it harder on the catcher. Good luck!"

Miyuki was grinning, long and hard, "What an interesting pitcher I'm catching for today."

The words didn't give Yochu much insight into what he was thinking… But it didn't matter. Yochu could try and decipher the Catchers thoughts once the match started.

With that, Yochu walked off toward the bat one of the players had brought over to him. It was a wooden bat, about the same size and weight as his preferred bat. Lucky, that lessened the gap a good bit. The other was still much larger than him but, Yochu was starting to see his own advantages a bit more clearly.

A shit eating grin spread across his face.

_Don't worry Ei-chan, your big brother will destroy that man in his best form, __just __for you!_

…

…

…

"Would you mind if I called you Yochu-kun as well?" Rei-chan asked, walking over as the player in question was stretching and giving a few practice swings.

"I don't care, but it would probably make it easier. Provided Ei-chan decides to come here."

"Do you think he will?"

"It'll depend on what Miyuki Kazuya shows him. That Azuma guy didn't exactly leave a good first impression." Yochu admitted, letting out a little sigh. He wanted to go here, Yochu had a good feeling about it. It would seem his future laid in the mitt of Miyuki Kazuya, however.

"And you're okay with your brother choosing your future?"

Yochu hummed, actually giving it a second of thought, "I don't see it that way. No matter where I follow my brother to when it comes to high school, I'll get what I want. So long as I can play baseball, I can improve and play what I love. My skill is what will get me where I want to go. A school will help, but it's my ability that will get me where I'm going."

Yochu noticed Ei-chan walking toward the pitch, doing his stretches. Each stretch was something Yochu had forced him to learn. Especially when it came to the stretches around his shoulder. Seeing Ei-chan going through the whole set of them made Yochu smile lazily.

_Good looks, little brother._ Yochu thought to himself.

Miyuki walked toward the mound, likely to speak to Ei-chan a bit before they actually started their little showdown. Though Yochu might have been imagining it, was there approval in his eyes as he watched the pitcher do the stretches. If so, that was high praise. Miyuki was considered a prodigy of baseball after all.

...

…

…

Miyuki Kazuya was having an interesting day.

It started off like most days since he starting coming to Seidou. Eat, study, practice. After that, Rei-chan showed up with a set of twins, and that's when his day started to become _intriguing._ Not only that but amusing as well. Miyuki had been about to mouth off to Azuma himself before the kid stepped in, but the kid did it in such a great way. He immediately starting to insult Azuma's weakest spot. So if Miyuki fell into a spiral of laughter, he'd admit it. In fact, he wished Azuma would try and form some type of revenge.

Then it came out that this kid Rei-chan was showing around was a _pitcher._ Not any type of pitcher though, because if what the other twin had expressed was true, the pitcher was skilled for his age. It was not common for kids in middle school to be able to through three types of pitches, even if they weren't controlled. There were a few examples of exceptional pitchers, one of which being Mei, but they were rare.

Getting this kid to come to Seidou could be key to getting them to Kōshien in the future.

Considering how good the pitcher was, it wouldn't be a long shot to assume the other twin was good as well.

A catcher for his twin, but he apparently hated the position?

Like Miyuki had been thinking, _those two were VERY interesting._

Seeing the pitcher go through stretches, far more than were standardly taught in middle school, he was mildly impressed. Miyuki wasn't easy to impress, especially when it came to his own area of expertise, but he found himself feeling _slightly _so. It was clear that the Catcher (Past Catcher?) knew his job.

He looked over at the Catcher twin, and he was swinging around a wooden bat. _Wooden bat!_

His stance was good, even though it was practice swinging. He was accustomed to the extra weight and different movement that came with a wooden bat. He was grinning somewhat as he warmed up. Confident? Miyuki felt a sling of excitement - He wanted to be even more surprised by these twins. Kazuya wanted his expectations to get ripped to shreds and risen above.

_Exceed my expectations Sawamura Yochu, I want to see you destroy this batter who would abuse one of OUR pitchers._

That's what pitchers were to a catcher, after all, theirs to protect, guide, and make look good.

Even if he didn't_ like _the position, the way the other Sawamura was acting suggested he was _good _at it.

"Sawamura," Miyuki greeted, walking up toward the mound. Not stepping on it _never stepping on it._ The pitcher ego tended to hate that.

"Yochu told me a bit of your pitching style," Miyuki said, covering his mouth, his excited grin, with his mitt.

"Yo-chan did?!" The pitcher gasped, looking shocked, "He always likes to keep that stuff secret!"

_A secret, huh? _Miyuki thought to himself, _Putting your eggs in this particular basket, Sawamura Yochu? Don't worry, I never disappoint. First, a little test though._

"That he did. Makes me wonder whether you can hold up to his expectations here. I feel like it's just a big brother trying to make his little brother seem cool…" Miyuki mused slightly to himself, loud enough that the pitcher would hear him.

The pitcher's eyes turned to hateful spikes, reading something along the lines of_ I'll prove you wrong._

_Good, please do._ Kazuya mused to himself, liking the way any remaining worries drained from the pitcher in way of his anger.

Instead of saying anything else out-loud, Miyuki made his way back toward home plate and crouched behind it, giving a grin toward his pitcher. Azuma took a few more practice swings before he stepped up into the batters' box.

Now, from the three pitches, there were a lot of options.

Kazuya's first plan was to test the kid by seeing whether he had the instincts to see the batters strong point - No longer the main goal. Now Miyuki wanted to see this pitcher do his best. He wanted to destroy this batter. The goal was to use three pitches total than. It would completely humiliate their opponent. He wanted to see Sawamura on the mound after striking down his opponent.

Miyuki would make it happen.

Roughly, the best way to go about it would be two moving pitches, then a changeup. That would provide the best chance no ball would get hit. By the second moving pitch, Azuma would catch on, but a changeup? No one would expect that from an assumed dimwitted pitcher.

Miyuki allowed himself a widening grin as he called for a moving pitch, his fist striking his glove.

He liked the way the Pitcher's eyes widened, and a delighted grin crossed his face when seeing the sign.

_That look is one of the best things you can feel as a Catcher._

Kazuya held his mitt in front of him. He kept Yochu's warning in mind though. This ball would move wildly. The Catcher didn't really like pitchers without control. He hated catching knuckle-balls too, but that wouldn't change his job. _I'll catch whatever you throw. Trust my mitt._

The windup from the pitcher came only seconds later.

He overextended his stance and didn't bend his knee far enough, there was some lost velocity there - but it didn't matter. The ball came rocketing forward regardless.

The ball broke, only slightly, above the plate.

The batter didn't swing at it, but it landed into his mitt with a satisfying snap.

"Strike one~!" Miyuki called out, liking the way it made the batter tense slightly, "Nice pitching~!"

The pitcher didn't seem too happy with the pitch, however. The Sawamura was stretching out his pitching arm again. Miyuki liked to think the pitcher wasn't happy with the amount the ball broke. He was sure the moving pitch was more powerful than that. The pitcher probably tensed his shoulder too much.

Kazuya looked toward Azuma, the man's arms were tightening on the bat. He was going to swing this time. Though, the Catcher wondered if he'd even seen the slight movement on that pitch. It could be the case that Azuma was assuming the kid could only throw a fastball.

The Catcher formed a fist and slammed it back into his mitt.

_He's underestimating you, let's show him differently,_Miyuki thought. There was that fire in the pitcher's eyes as he wound up the next pitch.

The inconsistencies in his stance revealed themselves again, glaring to a practised eye like Miyuki's, but the pitch was solid.

In fact…

It hit his mitt with a thud, but not before Miyuki had to jerk his mitt upward as it curved over the bat. _Now THAT was a moving pitch,_ Kazuya thought, excitement filling him. It curved at least a whole bat's width upward.

"Strike two!" Miyuki stated, sending a grin toward the pitcher, who was ecstatic on the mound. Miyuki turned toward the batter, noticing his gritted teeth. He could hear the rubber of his batting gloves rubbing against the metal bat as he clutched it in annoyance.

_He's going to swing at the next one at full power. He __probably__ wouldn't hit another moving ball… But the purpose of a Catcher isn't __just__ to get the batter out. _Miyuki thought to himself, holding up a hand and just slightly folding his fingers, signalling for a changeup, _it's to make the Pitcher shine__._

The Pitcher looked like he was pouting. He didn't want to throw the pitch.

He hadn't refused it, but Miyuki was still too curious to let the chance pass.

"Time!" He called to Azuma with a wave, getting up from his crouch and walking toward the mound. The pitcher walked down it a little bit, meeting him halfway. The Sawamura was still pouting.

"You don't look too happy with my call, what's up Sawamura?" Miyuki asked, casually tossing an arm around the pitcher's neck.

The Pitcher pouted, looking in the opposite direction, "Such a boring pitch."

_A boring pitch?_

Kazuya erupted into peals of laughter, unable to help himself.

"A catchup is one of the most difficult pitches and important to be able to perform, and you think it's boring? You're something else Sawamura!" Miyuki spoke, chucking between his words.

Sawamura wiggled out of his grip and took a swipe at him, which Miyuki dodged, and started to laugh again, _what an amusing Pitcher!_

Calming down his laughter, and ignoring the red-faced, somewhat annoyed looks he was getting. Miyuki covered his mouth with his glove. He looked right into the pitcher's eyes, "Trust my call, this batter won't know what's coming."

The Pitcher looked somewhat ticked still, but determined, "You don't have to tell me, I know to trust a catchers calls. Get back over there and get ready to catch the best boring pitch you've ever caught, Catcher!"

_Yochu __really __had this pitcher so well trained,_ Miyuki inwardly murmured as he walked back to the plate, chuckling with every step.

"Insulting me? I'm going to hit it out of the park, you know!" Azuma claimed.

"Who, me? Would I do that?" Miyuki simpered, grinning up to his senpai before readying himself to catch the pitch.

Though the Pitching Sawamura was still pouting, he went into the windup without complaint. Kazuya watched as the pitch was released. Even if it was only a split second before he had to catch the pitch, he saw the nature of it. Seems that his changeup was the palm ball. Weird, because the kid's fastball wasn't a four-seam.

What a wild pitcher. Both using grips and completely disregarding them. Unpolished.

**_BLAPM_**

The pitch hit his mitt, "Strike three"

This pitcher had so much potential. Miyuki could only hope that the kid ended up coming to Seidou. This Sawamura would, given some better training, became an amazing pitcher. Kazuya watched as the pitcher jumped up and down on the mound, cheering in a rather outrageous, fashion. The Catcher could tell that some of his teammates were suitably impressed with the kid. A middle schooler struck out one of their top batters.

"Nice catching~!" Kazuya heard. His gaze swung around to look toward the call, and all he saw was Sawamura Yochu doing a few more practising swings with his bat.

…

…

…

_Was it wrong to be jealous of Miyuki Kazuya?_

Yochu watched as his little brother lit up when pitching to that glove. It was kind of bittersweet. It wasn't that Yochu didn't _want _that outcome… He just wished he could have gotten his brother to light up like that when the ball hit _his _mitt. That might be the difference of actually liking the position you were playing, not just being good at it.

Ei-chan looked positively enamoured.

Still, he had to admit, "Nice catching~!"

Miyuki Kazuya may have heard him, or he might not have, but Yochu had already gone back to swinging a few more practice bats.

Warmed up, there were few signs of the lingering pains he had from pushing himself the past few weeks.

"Three total pitches to strike out one of our best batters. Your brother really is something, Yochu-kun." Rei-chan admitted as she looked at the still cheering Ei-chan.

Yochu rested the bat on his shoulder briefly, looking at the woman, "The three total pitches was a combination of luck and Miyuki Kazuya. If he hadn't called that time out to talk to Ei-chan, the changeup would have been too subtle. He hates throwing it. Whatever that Catcher said lit a fire under his ass."

A moment of silence passed before Yochu clicked his tongue.

"I hate to admit it, but I probably couldn't have done the same for Ei-chan. Miyuki-san knew the weak spot on the batter and used it well. If he hadn't placed his mitt there, Azuma probably would have smacked the first pitch out of the park. I wouldn't have been able to match that if I'd been catching."

Yochu shrugged, he wasn't too bothered by it,_ he wasn't._

With that, Yochu turned toward his future opponent.

"So, my dear walrus, are you ready to face me, or do you want more time to recover from your destruction at the hands of my little brother?" Yochu asked eyes narrowed in the batter who still stood shocked at home plate.

There'd been little reaction from the man, but Yochu wasn't satisfied with that.

_There we are,_ Yochu licked his lips, Azuma's eyes narrowed on the older brother.

"Your kid brother might have gotten the best of me by luck and Miyuki, but the arrogance of thinking you, a middle-schooler, can beat me in batting." Azuma spits out.

_If anyone is arrogant, it's you._ Yochu observed, thinking of all the advantages he had over the man as he currently was. If the man was fresh on the field, Yochu didn't doubt his elder would beat him fair and square but…

Yochu could feel his grin spreading even farther.

_Azuma wasn't fresh on the field, and the advantage went to Sawamura Yochu. The other batter didn't even realize it._

They started to walk over to the machines. At this point, the Seidou boys who were watching the whole thing were determined to see through the whole competition. Or it seemed that way because they trailed behind as well. Ei-chan had stopped his self-celebration and started to walk over as well. Now he was yelling praises to his "Yo-chan" who was going to beat the "fat guys" ass.

Azuma heard the words and got even angrier. His face was red, both in anger, and likely some mild humiliation.

_Good, get angrier, it'll make this way easier on me._

Suddenly, something flopped down on his head. Yochu jolted to attention, reaching up to what was now resting on top of his head. _Gloves? _Quality batting gloves. Yochu looked to his side, and there stood a grinning Miyuki Kazuya. He'd taken his catchers gear off, now wearing the same cap he'd been wearing when first introducing himself. There was a grin on his face as he looked toward Yochu. The catcher having something like five inches of height on the younger teen.

"Figured you'd need those, Chu-chan." Miyuki - No, Kazuya spoke, a teasing twist to his lips.

Yochu couldn't resist rising slightly to the challenge, "Thanks Kazu-kun! I didn't really need them to beat that blowhard but no reason not to be careful~!"

"You brat!" The man in question gritted out.

Yochu turned to look at him, blinking as if surprised, "Oh, sorry! I didn't know you'd be able to hear me."

_Yeah right._ Pretty much all the audience thought in conjunction.

Yochu pulled on the gloves that Kazuya let him borrow, they were slightly big for him but better than nothing.

Seeing both of the batters ready, Rei-chan stepped forward.

"We flip a coin to see you bats first. After that, we continue in turns. If someone misses or fouls, they are in danger. Unless the opponent also misses or fouls that same pitch they lose. Are you ready, Azuma-kun, Yochu-kun?" As Rei-chan asked, she displayed the yen coin they were flipping. Yochu gave a grin and nod. His opponent nodded, no grin present. Which Yochu didn't blame him for, the man was having a long day.

Azuma first.

_Perfect. _Yochu purred.

It wasn't needed, but Yochu preferred that his opponent went first for one reason, Yochu had never seen a machine pitch before. Since it was always the same pitch, seeing it once should be enough to understand it better and adjust his eyes. Or, at least, it would help somewhat with the issue. Azuma didn't have that same hesitation and walked up to the plate. His anger gone, replaced with cool confidence.

It was pitched.

Straight down the middle, perfectly lined with the middle box in the striking gride. Azuma hit with perfect accuracy and power.

It was out of the park.

"Oh my god… Is it really okay Yo-chan?" Ei-chan whispered to himself. Unable to help suddenly wondering if his brother could do it, before pulling himself together, "This is Yo-chan I'm talking about! Of course, he can do it! He's my brother after all!"

_So it was like he thought,_ Yochu realized. The man depended on the power behind his hits to place them far, probably because he couldn't run for shit.

_Everything is going my way._ Yochu chuckled, borderline _cackled,_ as he stepped forward for his turn.

Staring down home plate toward the machined pitcher's mound was slightly intimidating. Still, Yochu had become quite acquainted with the idea of visualizing a pitcher over the years. He blinked, and instead of a machine, there was a smirking blonde standing there.

Yochu tightened his hands on the bat, and his teeth ground together.

The pitch came, the swing followed.

_Oops, _Yochu thought to himself, watching as the ball flew along the same path as Azuma's, _I meant to make this a stamina battle, but imagining that brat on the mound I couldn't help myself._

"Woah! Yo-chan is so dependable!" Ei-chan shouted, watching as the ball flew beyond the fence.

_It's more dependable to actually stick to your plan… But I can't resist acting like I meant to when Ei-chan is so cute._

Kazuya whistled as he watched the pitch get sent out. It wasn't hard for a skilled batter to hit a machine pitch out of the park. In fact, Kazuya himself could do it pretty easily. The more impressive part came from how quickly the kid had adapted himself to hitting a pitch from a machine. He'd seen it thrown, once, maybe twice. _These Sawamura continue to prove themselves intriguing. I want to see more._

"Woah, I wasn't expecting that out of a middle schooler."

"The kid sent that flying!"

"Luck, even if he can hit well, he can't hit _more _than Azuma-senpai, and that's what matters in this competition."

Azuma walked forward, his cool confidence once again gone. Was that all it took to shake this man? Hitting once decent bat? He was weak. All the better for Yochu, however.

The man hit the next pitch far, it hit the back fence easily.

Yochu just went up, and this time, instead of imagining _that brat _he picked a right-handed pitcher, with a face a little less… Infuriating. This time, he stuck to his plan. A low grounder to the infield.

They went back and forth a few more times. Once, Yochu nearly fouled one, but it ended up being valid. The Sawamura sweated it out for a moment though and resolved himself to him them straighter.

…

…

…

Kazuya was more than a little surprised when the other Sawamura took his teasing from before in hand and returned it. From the interaction Miyuki had with the pitcher, he could tell the twins had a very different temperament. Letting Chu-chan, as he was seemingly now named, borrow his batting gloves, was a momentary decision on his part. Simply put, he couldn't resist his curiosity.

_What a serious face Chu-chan is capable of,_ Kazuya thought to himself, watching as the fellow baseball player sent the pitch flying home. _These Sawamura continue to prove themselves intriguing. I want to see more._

He watched the two batters go back and forth a few more times.

Miyuki could feel a grin spread to his mouth. Even as his fellow teammates were doubting Chu-chan, Kazuya was starting to understand, _so that's his game plan…_

Chu-chan wanted to tire out his fellow batter. He was guessing that with all the batting he'd already done, the huffing and puffing, and Azuma's clearly not in shape body, he'd win the stamina game. It was a good plan, _a great plan _. If it was Kazuya as Chu-chan, he would likely have gone the same route.

Miyuki had seen enough to know the outcome here.

_Let's see you treat a pitcher like that again, Azuma-senpai. Seems that these two taught you quite the lesson._ Miyuki thought to himself, before putting his hands into his pockets and starting to head back

It wasn't until later that night that Kazuya remembered.

…_ I need to buy a new pair of gloves tomorrow._

…

…

…

Yochu looked at the ceiling of his room, hand up upward. On his hand was one of the gloves that Miyuki Kazuya, no, Kazu-kun, had left with him. The Catcher hadn't watched the whole match, Yochu didn't know why, but Yochu did get something out of it. He'd been needing some new batting gloves, he'd grow into these.

If Kazu-kun wanted them, he should have stayed.

Then again, maybe the man had caught onto the plan and realized that winning was inevitable for Yochu.

It was, everything went to plan. Leering slightly, Yochu remembered his words upon defeating the batter.

**_"Pretty arrogant, wasn't it? Thinking that you could beat me even after all the training you'd done today. On top of all the live pitching, you tried to bat. So much live pitching that you over exhausted the pitcher. With your body the way it is, there was no way you were going to beat me when I was fresh to the field. And underestimating me right after my little brother beat you. So very arrogant."_**

Yochu liked shooting that word back at Azuma. The man clearly thought that of Yochu and Ei-chan, so why not give as good as they were getting.

Well, those thoughts wouldn't do him any good, it was over now.

Now the only thing left to do was graduate and train in this long offseason. Ei-chan would probably take the time to hang out with his friends more often than not. Yochu could only hope that Ei-chan would hang out with them enough that he got it out of his system so that they could go to Seidou. Yochu saw the way Ei-chan looked on the train, so thoughtful. He wanted Miyuki Kazuya's glove. Now the only remaining factors was whether he'd actually reach for it.

Yochu certainly hoped so.

There was one more thing that Yochu took notice of. Ei-chan lately... Never once had Yochu been able to truly say no to anything his little brother asked.

"I'm so screwed," Yochu admitted to the empty room.


End file.
